s4LEX

Keeping the head unit of course... your shop wouldn't happen to be in Colorado?

HIS4

You already mentioned that you want to keep the HU but what about the rest of the system? Do you like it loud? What kind of music do you listen too? Are you willing to modify the car or does everything have to fit in the stock locations? Stealth sub box or just a plain box? The answers to all these questions will help in the choice of equipment.

avincar

Also, self-install or pro?

s4LEX

I listen to a *wide* variety of music, making my 80GB iPod a pretty permanent item in the glove box.

I blew one ear living the fast life in Asia five years ago, so have pretty good tinitus. I generally don't listen to music super loud, and definitely not interested in impressing people outside of my car with the bass. Clean sound over loud.

I'm good with custom building computers, but that's still really component based. Pretty detail oriented and generally comfortable around electronics. Would certainly consider and be willing to pay for a pro install. Just not if the pros are chain store kids that have always managed to break or tweak something on prior cars. If you know any good independents in the Boulder/Denver area I'm all ears. I'd rather try a self-install if not, and have several Audi friends with lots of experience taking their interiors apart.

Not generally interested in a custom build. I like some bass, but I also use my trunk and prefer dropping rear seats and stuffing snowboard/ski gear if its just me and a buddy -- so don't really want to lose space if I can't get decent rear speakers with bass (I did read avincar's posts about focusing on the fronts).

Thanks!

avincar

If you had a B6, I would not worry about rears or a sub - but the low-end performance of the front speakers in a B5 is severely limited.

If any of that music you listen to is rap, ignore what I say below.

I am going to suggest the following:

New 4-channel amplifier. Small is fine if you can find it, but better than deck power is our goal.

New 4" F door speakers and tweeters. If you have a non-Bose car, I think you will need some adapters or to make some with a jigsaw - check with another B5 owner here. I've only worked on Bose B5s, I know those come with a rubber ring between the door panel and the speaker. An aftermarket 4' works very well, but you need a couple of washers since the hole pattern does not line up.

New 6.5" woofers which fit in the square holes in the rear deck.

If you are interested in a DIY project, I would suggest the following:

Vifa 4" mids $27 each.
http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?cart_id=4338215.13337&pid=1298

LPG 25nfa tweeter, $43 each.
http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?cart_id=4338215.13337&pid=635

I've used these in Bose cars before with good results. You need a series cap on the tweeter,
http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?cart_id=7007113.25804&pid=213

The Audax woofers which dropped into the R deck of the B5 are no longer made, but I think these Peerless will fit, $39 each.

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?cart_id=4338215.13337&pid=2122

I know the Hertz HL165 woofer drops in, too.
That, and a 4-channel amplifier with active crossovers for highpass and lowpass,a nd ideally for a second highpass for the sixes to make a bandpass, would be good.

I like the DLS CA41 myself. But just about any amp you buy is bigger than you need for this.

HIS4

Anyway, you can get 5.25" mids in the front with adapters but the adapters are a little hard to come by now. Same with the 6.5" in the rear deck.

I've been looking at some DIY speaker combinations myself. Maybe some 5.75" Seas mids and possibly some large format Scan Speak tweeters to go into the kick panels. The still is on though.

s4LEX

Cool -- thanks!